In Review: Foundation (S2 – EP3) – King and Commoner

Synopsis: In King and Commoner, The Empire recruits Bel Riose to investigate the resurgent Foundation. Hari leads Gaal and Salvor to a desert planet.

The Story

While making their way to the planet where the Second Foundation is going to be. It seems Hari Seldon has tricked Gaal and Salvor into going to an old desert mining planet, which has long been abandoned. While there Hari takes Gaal with him to an old cave system close to an abandoned monument. As they arrive they are greeted by the same woman that helped Hari escape from the data storage in episode one. Hari remains with the woman while Gaal heads back to the ship. Later when Gaal and Salvor try to leave the planet. They find Hari in the palm of the hand on the statue and he has a new human body. Quite how this happened isn’t explained.

Elsewhere, Demerzel has gone to the penal colony on Lepsis to strike a deal with disgraced General Bel Riose. Acting on orders from Empire Day Demerzel is looking to conscript Riose to monitor if The Foundation on Terminus has become a threat to Empire.

On Terminus. The mystery of Hober Mallow is solved and was not a mystery to the leadership on Terminus. It turns out that Mallow is a former Monk turned con man. Hober Mallow’s introduction is a lot of fun as he tries to sell a transportation device to the leader of Terminus who happens to be somewhat of a sucker for new shiny things.

The Acting

Ben Daniels makes a strong impression in his role of Bel Riose who has some interesting scenes between Demerzel and Day, which suggests a complex relationship between Riose, the commoner, and Day who is the King in this instance. In short Riose agrees to return to duty and given the alternative you can’t really blame him.

The chemistry between Lou Llobell and Leah Harvey continues to be fun to watch. The contrast between Gaal and Salvor continues to be fun because where Gaal is more in her head and analytical. Salvor is much more hands-on. Added to that the fact that one can see the future while the other can see the past makes for an interesting puzzle. With Jared Harris’s Hari Seldon between them. It makes for an intriguing triumvirate.

Overall

This was another episode that relies on a lot of exposition and lacked any interesting action beats for fans of more visceral TV. That said the character arcs we are seeing are quite fun to watch and I’m particularly enjoying the character of Brother Constant and her relationship with the other Monk.